Some landowners have long complained the state’s Highlands Act puts too much control over development in state hands and ignores the wishes of local residents and officials.

But the state’s Highlands Council may soften that criticism with a proposal, negotiated with the state Department of Environmental Protection, that would give municipalities more authority over narrowly defined proposals.

The act restricts development in an 88-town, 860,000-acre area that provides the water supply to Newark, Jersey City and more than half the state’s residents. The Highlands region straddles Morris, Somerset, Hunterdon, Sussex, Warren, Bergen and Passaic counties.

In the Highlands preservation area — a 52-town region where compliance with the act is mandatory — residents must apply to DEP for exemptions to obtain virtually any building permit, a system that critics say is costly and time-consuming.

The seven exemptions would allow local control over certain small-scale projects, such as the construction of a single house or improvements to a house. Towns whose plans conforming to the Highlands Regional Master Plan have been approved by the council would be eligible to grant the exemptions.

The proposal has won the support of both Highlands Act critics and environmentalists, no easy feat.

"I’m in favor of anything that brings greater control to the grass-roots level and away from Trenton," said Chester Township farmer Kurt Alstede, a Highlands Council member who is a frequent critic of the act.

Jeff Tittel, director of the Sierra Club’s New Jersey chapter who is usually on the opposite side of issues from Alstede, agreed with him on this one.

"Most of the exemptions are relatively minor and they make sense," Tittel said, adding the proposal provides an "incentive" for towns to conform to the Highlands Act and to support the planning process.

Many towns already qualify to grant the exemptions, as 35 of the 52 towns in the preservation area have had their plans conforming to the Highlands Regional Master Plan approved by the council.

The council was expected to approve the proposed agreement at its meeting Thursday, but postponed action because the legal language had not been finalized.

Council Chairman Jim Rilee, the mayor of Roxbury, said he’s "absolutely in favor" of the plan and promised to "make sure" it’s on the agenda for approval at the group’s next meeting on July 19.

Rilee pointed out how cumbersome and expensive it is for residents to apply to the DEP in Trenton if they want to build, say, an addition to their house.

"It’s common sense," Rilee said. "These are minor exemptions that can easily be handled locally."

A spokeswoman for the council noted the Highlands Regional Master Plan called for letting localities grant these exemptions at some point, and that point has come.

The proposed exemptions would be for:

• Construction of a single-family dwelling for owner’s own use.

• Construction of a single-family dwelling with conditions.

• Reconstruction of any building or structure with conditions set by municipality.

• Any improvement to a single-family dwelling.

• Any improvement, for nonresidential purposes, to a place of worship, school or hospital.

• Any activity conducted in accordance with an approved woodland management plan.